Sour Cream Doughnuts

After spending the past couple of weeks baking donuts, I found myself craving a good old-fashioned sour cream fried donut. I found a fantastic recipe that makes perfect crispy on the outside, dense and moist on the inside sour cream donut.

My favorite sour cream donut was the one my parents and I would buy at our local grocery store chain before they went out of business. We tried going to Dunkin Donuts and other small donut shops, but none of them came close, until now. This is the donut of my childhood and now my son’s childhood because he loved them! For the first time in years, I sat down with a donut and a tall glass of cold milk. It was perfect.

Sour Cream Donuts

for the donuts

2 ¼ cup cake flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons butter (, at room temperature)

2 large egg yolks

½ cup sour cream

Canola oil (, for frying)

for the glaze

3 ½ cup powdered sugar (, sifted)

1 ½ teaspoons corn syrup

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup hot water

for the donuts

In a bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until sandy. Add the egg yolks and mix until light and thick. Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl in 3 additions, alternating with the sour cream, ending with the flour. The dough will be sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about ½ inch thickness. Use a doughnut cutter or two differently sized biscuit cutters to cut out as many donuts as possible, dipping the cutters into flour as necessary to prevent sticking. You should get about 12 donuts and holes.

Pour 2 inches of canola oil into a heavy bottomed pot with a deep-fry thermometer attached. Heat to 325°F. Fry the donuts a few at a time, being careful not to overcrowd the pot. Fry on each side about 2 minutes, being careful not to let them burn. Let drain on a paper bag to soak up the excess grease.

for the glaze

Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a whisk until smooth. Immerse each doughnut into the glaze. Place on a wire rack above a sheet pan to catch any excess glaze. Let sit for 20 minutes until glaze is set. Donuts are best served the day they are made but may be store in an air tight container at room temperature for a few days.

That’s a great question! I’m honestly not sure. If you tried it, I would definitely use a dounut pan. If you try baking them on a cookie sheet, they will turn out flat. I would also try baking them at a slightly higher temperature. I’m so curious now myself to see if this would work. I may have to try it myself!

These look like the old fashioned sour cream donuts my grandma use to bake. She would top hers with a lemon glaze much like your glaze recipe but it was just the juice of 1 lemon, powdered sugar and hot water til she got the desired consistency.

I made these following directions as written! I would not feel right making a comment other wise, I changed nothing. They were very good!.. they ended up a little crunchy, I may have fried them a little too long. also I wonder if I should have sifted flour before or after measuring?. other wise I liked making them . I take too long making anything normally but these went together rather fast (chill for hour seemed forever) haha. If this dad can do it you can too. try them, thanks

I’m so glad you liked them! I’m way too lazy to sift before or after measuring, but I do give the ingredients a good whisking. Frying doughnuts are always tricky for me because it’s challenging maintaining the correct oil temp, and every stove/deep fryer behaves differently. If you decide to make them again, I would play around with cooking times and temps.

Goodness, these donuts look scrumptious! Truly, whenever I see one of your recipes and the beautiful accompanying photos, I get hungry. I’m worried about trying this recipe out because, really, can you stop at having just one? We’ll have to give this a try when our boys have their friends over (young, teen men are great gobblers!) and I’m likely only to be able to grab one. Doughy donuts are great but I’ve got to make sure I don’t start getting too doughy myself!